Too High

 

This shot is from the Great Basin National Park in Utah, where I was out of breath just standing still at 10,000 feet elevation. In August of this year, I got to visit my 31st National Park. That ice is what is left of one of the many glaciers that carved those mountains over the eons. It was a fun hike, although challenging. Spirit is willing. Legs (and lungs) were weak. 

An interesting Illinois duck

 

It is hard to imagine that a bird like this is very common on lakes and larger rivers in Illinois in the winter. These are Hooded Mergansers and the males are quite attractive when they display their beautiful headgear.  It always surprises me to discover that birds like this are local, yet I never noticed them in the first 66 years of living on this planet. I saw this bird a week or so ago at Whalon Lake in Naperville. You just have to be willing to brave the cold and take a walk to see them. They will be here until the Spring when they head back north. When it is very cold, you need to find a larger lake that has not iced over, but there are many days and weeks when it isn't all that cold and the ducks and geese are everywhere. I have also seen them in Florida and New Jersey as this species is very widespread. They are seen throughout the US and Canada except for the dry and arid southwest. So, go out and see if you can find one. Having some binoculars with you will help as waterfowl like to move as far as possible from humans. Good luck in getting out there and if you do see one, let me know!!! 

One Species, so many different looks

 

What I didn't know when I started down this birding path was the variety of different plumages that many birds go through. I didn't know that many females were colored differently than males and many juveniles of both sexes sometimes have different plumages as the adults (usually following the female pattern). I didn't know that birds vary their plumages over the course of the year, with the spring season usually having the male birds at their most colorful. Kinda fits why Fashion Week is in the Spring, right? These 6 shots are all of the American Redstart with two different colorations in the orange and black males, the yellow and black females and a juvenile (don't know which sex that one is). I am just learning now, that these shots aren't of 6 different birds, but of all the same species. Makes it fun and challenging to identify species. It takes a lot of mental work to be a birder--and the American Redstart isn't anywhere near the most difficult of the birds to identify over the year. Gulls, for example, can take up to 4 years to reach their adult plumage with different variations on the way to full, adult colors. Oh my!!! 

Mellow Yellow #2

 

Here is a second set of yellow-themed birds from my travels last month. The yellow-throated warbler is from Biscayne Bay. The other three from a trip to Harlingen, Texas. Go yellow!!!

Happy Turkey Day

 

Hope all your Turkey wishes come true!!!

Mellow Yellow Month

In my travels in the past month, I caught many birds on camera I had never seen before, as I was in south Texas near the Mexican/US border and these birds don't travel much further north that than in their range. A lot of them happen to have yellow in the mix of colors. So, here are a couple of yellow (and orange) birds caught on camera in November. The Brown Jay, below (well, it has a yellow beak and feet), is rare in Texas. There are only 7 of them known to be in the US and we saw all seven, as one family seems to have relocated to south Texas. They are quite common 100 miles south in Mexico. The Brown Jays consistently show up on the rare ABA bird alert (yes, there is such a thing) but they are living on private property so not seen very often. We were able to get access to the property and find the birds. Quite the trip with 23 new bird species added to my list. 

 

Turkey Day

 

Looking up and seeing this many Turkey Vultures overhead is quite disconcerting. Although this is a composite of two shots--this is what it felt like when you looked up and can see from horizon to horizon, Turkey Vultures everywhere. That is what parts of southern Florida in the Keys looked like last week. Maybe locals are used to these views, but for someone from Illinois, it was something to see.